Kawafuru Dam Plan
The population of the Capital region exploded after the completion of Aimata Dam; to meet demand, the Ministry of Construction and the Water Resources Development Organization (renamed as the Japan Water Agency) energetically continued development of the Tonegawa River system. However, in the 1980s, droughts had begun to occur at a rate of once every two-to-three years, accompanied by a lack of rainfall, both attributed to the effects of global warming. To secure enough water to meet demand, the Ministry of Construction implemented the "Emergency Water Supply-Countermeasure Dam Project" to retain water in reservoirs during droughts.
The Akaya River and Kawafuru Hot Springs upstream of Aimata Dam were singled out, and plans were brought forth for the newer "Kawafuru Dam" on the Akaya River. The concrete gravity dam was to be built at Kawafuru to a height of 131.0 meters, with flood control storage of 46,000,000 tons of water, appropriating water to municipal and industrial water systems and helping to alleviate water shortages in the Capital region.
A construction feasibility study was carried out in 1990, after which the initial plans were altered to increase the height of the dam to 160.0 meters and the flood control storage to 76,000,000 tons. However, water demand from the Capital region continued to increase, and as public projects at the time were all being put under review, the dam project was scheduled for further reevaluation. Water demand eventually shrank, and as the necessity of Kawafuru Dam was called into question the construction project was put on hold for an indefinite period of time.
Read more about this topic: Aimata Dam
Famous quotes containing the words dam and/or plan:
“The devil take one party and his dam the other!”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“I began revolution with 82 men. If I had [to] do it again, I do it with 10 or 15 and absolute faith. It does not matter how small you are if you have faith and plan of action.”
—Fidel Castro (b. 1926)